


A Piece of the Puzzle

by theriveroflight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Hunters, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Gen, Genderfluid Marc Anciel, Ghosts, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Selkies, Vampires, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29792289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: For March of the Monsters.When Adrien turns 18, he unlocks a gift left for him by his mother. Turns out the Graham de Vanilys have a lot of secrets.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Juleka Couffaine & Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Kudos: 6





	1. Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> cw: ghost-associated death discussion
> 
> no this is not an spn au shut up (though I do understand where that might come from)

“Happy birthday, Adrien,” Marinette says, rushing into the party. “Sorry I’m late.”

He shakes his head. “You’re a busy person, I get it.” She sighs, grateful that he’s still here, and so are some friends still. She hands him her present, and he tears it open to reveal the friendship bracelet she made, part of their infinitely escalating competition to see who can make the best ones.

“Thanks, Marinette. Hey, can you…look at something for me?”

She nods. “What is it?”

He hands her a leather-bound journal. “I…Father told me that Mother left it in her will that I should receive this when I turn eighteen.”

Marinette nods, and opens it. “This is her journal?”

“I mean, it’s not exactly a diary. You’ll see.”

She flips through the pages, a few illustrations and words catching her attention. “What…”

“I don’t know. I guess I would need to talk to Aunt Amelie or Felix, but…I suspect neither would be particularly receptive. The journals start fading out towards the end. I wonder if…”

Marinette looks to the last page.

_ To whoever gets this next — you must take up the fight. I know I don’t have much time before it consumes me. I am giving my life to buy this world time. And hopefully, whoever receives this next is capable of fixing what’s broken. _

“Way to be cryptic,” Marinette comments. The words are scattered across the page, messy, almost as though Adrien’s mother was rushing through it.

“What am I going to do with this?” Adrien asks, but it feels like he’s talking to himself mostly.

“Do you want my help?” Marinette asks. “Some of this sounds familiar. Hunting and all that. I don’t really know where  _ from,  _ but it sounds…maybe my Nonna told me about it before. She seems like she would have been into that.”

Adrien tilts his head. “I’d…love some support, honestly. With Nino gone now, it’s been…”

“Yeah.” Marinette remembers their searching, Adrien using his research as much as possible. All just to come up with nothing.

“So, after the party?” Marinette asks, feeling awkward.

“Yeah. After.”

* * *

They both enter the mansion after. She’s been helping Adrien house-hunt, but they haven’t found anywhere that they can agree on to room together in.

“Alright…” he mutters, pulling up Google on his computer. “What the  _ heck  _ can we do?”

“No idea,” Marinette murmurs in return, but types  _ monster hunter  _ into the search bar. There are results for various shows and books and stuff, but after scrolling aways she finds something.

hunterscorner.net.

She clicks on the link, and looks at it to see if it’s just a forum for something, but it seems to line up a little with what they’ve seen in Emilie’s journal. Adrien nudges her hand out of the way a bit to filter by location.

Not as many in France, let alone where they are, but there  _ is  _ one case in Paris.

“Account time?” Adrien asks.

Marinette nods, and they work out creating some sort of identity for themselves. They state on their profile that they’re a duo, and their username is  _ umbrellagum,  _ a throwback to how they first met.

And then they respond to the post.

Now it’s time to investigate.

* * *

They take the metro to the location.

“I recognize this place,” Marinette says, though she still can’t quite put her finger on  _ why  _ exactly she does. “It’s…something about it is familiar to me.”

A ten-year-old answers the door, and  _ oh,  _ okay.

“Manon?” Marinette asks.

“Marinette?” the girl answers, a lot more subdued than she usually would be.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s…a lot going on.”

* * *

There’s a ghost inside the apartment. They manage to establish that quickly enough, though they did suspect that before.

“So, we definitely aren’t the Ghostbusters,” Adrien jokes. “How are we gonna manage this?”

Marinette already has the forum pulled up on her phone. “Going for tips. They say to draw the ghost out in the open, trap it, and then we can persuade it to go away. Most of them don’t even really realize they’ve wandered.”

Adrien flips through Emilie’s journal for the right entry. “That sounds about right. Mother left some more specifics on the trapping part, and a spell to banish it. We’ll need to gather some components.”

Marinette sighs. “I guess it’s shopping time, isn’t it?”

“I know you hate shopping, let me handle it. You know the kid?”

“I used to babysit for her a few years back,” Marinette answers. “I guess I can stay for now. And if something happens I’ll call you.”

“Alright. I have the list of stuff we’ll need, so…I’ll be back in an hour?”

“See you then.”

* * *

Nothing eventful happens. Marinette doesn’t mind hanging out with Manon — they put on some kids programming, they laugh at some of the ridiculous things happening on-screen…

And then Adrien comes back. “You ready, Marinette?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she says, rising from the couch. “Where are we doing this?”

“I think the kitchen will be the most...washable?” Adrien shrugs.

“I wanna watch!” Manon says, scrambling off of the couch to join them in the kitchen.

They follow the instructions to summon the ghost to the circle and make it visible to the human eye.

Manon gasps when the person’s ghost appears. “Grandmother?” she whispers, and Marinette’s head turns towards the sound.

“Mme Chamack,” Marinette says, “you’re with humanity.”

The ghost looks around. “If I promise to go,” she says, “you will let me?” The whisper is guttural, and Marinette feels a shiver run through her entire body.

“You will find that there is already a gap above that you can leave from,” Adrien explains. “Now go in peace.”

The ghost looks around for a bit.

“Goodbye, Grandmother,” Manon says.

“I will miss you, my sweet honeybee,” the ghost answers, in that same whisper. And then she fades into the ceiling.

“Let us know if anything happens, okay?” Adrien asks, picking up the mess. Marinette joins him silently in the cleaning. “If she comes back, if anything else goes wrong, we want to know so we can…take more drastic action.”

“I know you miss her, Manon,” Marinette says, “but…this is unfortunately for the best.”

Marinette uses her phone to text Nadja that they evicted the ghost in their apartment while Adrien reports back to the forum.

Is this what a successful hunt is supposed to feel like?


	2. Vampires/Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick drive and a new character.

They decide to study more before they take on another case. Using both Emilie’s journal and the other hunters of the forum, they make their way through all the creatures they might encounter in France.

Then a new case pops up.

Another hunter, asking for backup in handling some vampires.

“You want to take this?” Marinette asks. They read over the information together.

“That isn’t too far from here. Can either of us drive, though?”

“I do have my license because my parents wanted me to drive the delivery van,” she comments. “Though I haven’t really  _ used  _ it, living here.”

“Great!” Adrien says, and Marinette feels a sense of dread. “There’s our ride.”

“Yeah. Sure.” She hasn’t driven in a while. So that’s a little scary. But together, she thinks, they can handle whatever the road throws at the. And if they leave early enough in the morning, they can get out before there are too many others on the road. Or if they go early  _ and  _ on a weekend. That way there’s even less chance of commuters.

“What are we going to take, though…” Marinette murmurs.

“We have cars. Not the limo, something more regular. It was a gift from one of my father’s old business partners. He doesn’t use it. It will be…okay.”

Marinette can do that. “Will you be busy over the weekend?”

Adrien shakes his head. “I left the modeling job. The contract expired on my birthday, and I didn’t renew it even when Father attempted to threaten me.”

“Adrien, are you…”

“It’s fine. I have plenty of money from my trust fund, and hunting will get us some, too.”

Right. The payment from Nadja had been split between the two of them; both for helping look after Manon while Nadja was out doing her own research on the ghost problem.

Both of them were surprised to learn that Nadja felt confident leaving Manon alone, even though the child had mellowed out some since Marinette had last babysat.

“Alright,” Marinette says, “we’ll leave on Saturday morning. I’ll be waiting.”

She replies to the forum, and DMs the person who called for backup so they can exchange phone numbers. Marinette is pretty sure it’s legitimate, but catfishing is always a possibility.

* * *

Marinette walks to the mansion on Saturday morning and texts Adrien. She isn’t usually a morning person, but some combination of anxiety and excitement is buzzing in her.

Adrien is already outside. He looks like he’s trying too hard, which cancels out the effect and makes him look more like a nerd.

But it’s what he’s leaning against (trying to be casual but failing) that catches her eye. It’s a beautiful red car, not a sports car but still more beautiful than anything she’s driven before.

She readjusts her bag on her shoulder. “Trunk?” Adrien presses a button on the key, and it opens.

“That is  _ so cool.”  _ Marinette says. “Um. Is this car self-driving?”

“Not exactly? You can still have control if you want, but it can help manage things for you. I figured it might help.”

She looks down at it all. It’s a little overwhelming, frankly, but she can handle it. Adrien will help her figure out some of the tech stuff, too.

The trip takes approximately two hours. She texts the hunter when they get to the quaint little town, before they make the drive out to the castle that’ll take around fifteen minutes.

The hunter — her name is Kagami — agrees to meet them there.

They pull up to the parking lot for the hike to the castle. She sees someone at the head of the trail.

“Are you…Kagami?”

Marinette feels…very inadequate. Kagami is both stylish and prepared for the realities of hunting — Marinette feels smaller. But Kagami is  _ gorgeous,  _ Marinette is  _ very  _ bi, and definitely feeling it.

“Yes. Where did you get that car?”

“Courtesy of my partner.” Marinette tries to play it cool, but can feel it failing. “He’s the one that dragged me into this.”

“And…” She looks over to Adrien, approaching. “I see.”

“You two know each other?” Marinette prays that they aren’t exes or something, because that’ll make things awkward.

“Hey, Gami,” Adrien says, walking up, and Marinette feels a sense of dread. They’re far too familiar, aren’t they?

“Adrien.” Kagami sighs. “How have you been? And why are you hunting?”

“I could ask the same of you,” Adrien answers, but it’s not hostile like Marinette would have expected. “But I’ve been good, and it’s because of my mother.”

“I rather enjoy hunting, now that I know if it, and my mother disapproves of it, so it’s all the better.”

Oh, a rebel? Technically, she could consider Adrien one, but Marinette isn’t attracted to Adrien in the least so that’s not a trait that is attractive in  _ Adrien. _

But it certainly is with Kagami.

“Okay, so, vampires in the castle,” Marinette says, trying to pull the three of them back on track.

“This is a public landmark. If they were anywhere else, it would be fine for them to remain, but there are so many humans nearby. Even though the vampires are capable of controlling themselves, it could still lead to their exposure.”

Marinette and Adrien exchange a loop. Yeah, that would be awful.

“So, we’re going to evict them?” Marinette asks. “Why do you need us?”

“I can’t handle all of them at once.” Kagami crosses her arms. “That’s why I need help.”

“Alright. Let’s go,” Adrien says. They hike up the trail towards the castle.

* * *

It’s  _ beautiful.  _ Marinette can see why someone would want to live in this castle.

“So, what are we going to do? Talk to them? Forcibly evict them? Something else?”

Kagami sighs. “I’ve tried talking.”

“Okay, so force it is,” Adrien says.

“Wait, I have an idea,” Marinette says.

They both turn towards her.

“Vampires can’t go on holy ground, right? So if we get someone to bless the grounds of the castle, then they’ll no longer be able to go on it, so they can’t live there.”

“...you’re a genius, Marinette,” Adrien says with a smile. “Now, how are we going to bless the ground?”

“I can do that. I have the certifications. I thought it would be useful against more Christian monsters,” Kagami explains. “It took a bit, but…”

Marinette doesn’t ask the question she  _ wants  _ to, but she does ask something.

“What do you need?”

“Just some time, and we need to evacuate them before we do it, so we need to lure them out.”

“...Right,” Adrien says. “Come on, Marinette, let’s do this.”

“And how, exactly, are we doing this?”

* * *

Pretending to be the government is strange. They draft an eviction notice that looks something like official, and then they go to the castle.

The person who answers the door takes one look at the eviction notice and shouts inside for everyone to pack their bags.

Well, that was easy.

She and Adrien exchange a single high-five.

* * *

“Alright, you ready?” Adrien asks Kagami. “There shouldn’t be anyone in there.”

Kagami nods, and opens her notebook to kneel on the ground. She recites something from it, and Marinette can feel the magic ripple, almost.

“The grounds of this castle have been blessed. No vampire will be able to step foot on them again,” Kagami says as she rises to her feet. “Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” Marinette responds. “We’re in the area, and we’re trying to learn these sorts of things so we can take more complicated jobs.”

“You two are…” Kagami narrows her eyes. “Okay, yes, that makes sense.”

“So, might we see you around again?” Marinette asks. She really wants to see Kagami again. And maybe ask her out.

“Perhaps,” Kagami answers. “Though I would prefer if you did not drive that car in my presence again. I would prefer not to be reminded of my mother.”

“Ah, we’ll try.” Marinette laughs. And then she remembers. Wait, Kagami  _ Tsurugi? _ She remembers the rumors now about Kagami and Adrien, though Adrien said to Marinette they weren’t true. She trusts Adrien.

“But we should probably head back to Paris,” Adrien says, “and we want to make it back before it gets dark.”

Right. Marinette takes a deep breath. “Until we meet again?” she asks.

“You have my phone number, Marinette, you are capable of texting or calling me,” Kagami answers, and Marinette smiles.

Time to go, though.


	3. Sea Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spell backfires. Luka is very hostile. There is more mystery to Emilie than one may think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not practice witchcraft.

It’s a few days before they get another case that they can take. A selkie’s family needs one of their members back. They reply to reserve the case, and then they spend time researching, starting with Wikipedia and ending in Emile’s journal.

They’re prepared. So it’s time to get going. They have a few hours to the shore still, and they’ll probably be staying there a couple nights. Marinette has the hotel booked and everything.

Marinette starts teaching Adrien to drive when they get to a particularly deserted stretch of road. He learns well, especially with the guidance of the car, willing to help when they need it.

They arrive at the little beach town a few hours after they began; it takes longer than it really should have, but she doesn’t mind.

“We should…get somewhere to charge the car, and go sleep,” Marinette says.

“Sounds good,” Adrien answers. They search and find that where they’re staying has an external power outlet. Marinette hooks up the adapters so that it works, and the car is charging.

Very slowly.

But they  _ can  _ get a good night’s sleep, at the very least. It isn’t like they’ll need the car for this leg of it all.

* * *

The next morning, they go to talk to the selkie who requested all this in the first place.

Marinette sits by the water and waits, but Adrien pulls out the post and recites the call that the selkie asked for.

A seal swims up to them and beaches itself, and Marinette coles her eyes as it turns into something resembling a person.

“You may call me Juleka,” she says. “I called you on behalf of my brother. Everyone on the magic side knows that stealing a skin is bad, this must be a human newbie or something. Someone that got caught up in the wrong things.”

“We’ll track down who did it. Call me Mari.”

“Brella?” Adrien offers, probably a reference to their username. “It’s good to meet you, Juleka. We’ll get your brother back.”

“I…I know that sometimes it’s inevitable, reading all the folktales, but they don’t…we live in modern times, you know? I can smell your humanity, and you’re different from some of those I’ve seen before. I know he wasn’t meant to stay here forever, and every single story ends in tragedy…”

“I promise you,” Marinette starts, “that this story is  _ not  _ a tragedy.”

“Okay,” Juleka says with a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“Can you give us a description?”

“Blue hair, blue eyes, darker skin than mine both in human and seal form. Taller than Brella.” It’s strange to hear Adrien referred to that way. “Um. I don’t really know how else to help.”

“You’ve given us enough,” Adrien answers. “We’ll get him back.”

Marinette isn’t sure if they’ve just made a promise they can’t keep.

* * *

There aren’t a lot of people living in the town. They can probably interview all of them in a bit.

And someone like Juleka’s brother will stand out amongst the townspeople. They don’t exactly have magic sensors or whatever, but…

And then they spot him, sitting inside a cottage. Marinette knocks on the door. Someone else answers.

“Um. Hello?”

Oh, how do they make this look less suspicious?

“We’re private investigators,” Adrien says. “Here investigating a missing persons case.”

The person who answered the door pales a bit. “Come inside.”

So they do, and she and Adrien are invited to sit at the table. The person matching the description is sitting there too, looking strange and statue-like.

“So. My name is Marc, and I’m a woman today.”

“Today?” Adrien asks, and Marientte is frankly tempted to smack him.

“Adrien, you don’t just ask people about their gender,” she whispers.

Marc smiles. She seems alright. “I started dabbling in witchcraft, and…one of my spells went wrong. I was looking for a familiar, but I said companion, but the animal stuff must have influenced it, because I received a selkie instead.”

“...did it not occur to you that you could just give me back my skin?” the brother asks.

“It…honestly didn’t? I’m so sorry.” Marc gets up and fetches it, presenting it to him.

Adrien leans over and whispers, “That was easier than I thought it would be.”

“Same,” Marinette answers. “If you want help with witchcraft, I know someone who’s trying to get into it?” She’s thinking of Rose, who had once expressed interest in it, so perhaps Marc and Rose could help each other. If Rose was even still interested.

“That would be  _ excellent,”  _ Marc says, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank you?”

The brother stands up. “You’re hunters, aren’t you?”

Adrien and Marinette exchange a look. Adrien nods. “Trying to be, at least.”

“The world doesn’t need more hunters,” the brother growls. “Not after they tried—”

“Tried what?” Marinette demands.

“See, that’s why the world doesn’t need more of you. You’re pushy, and you don’t even try to be a part of things.” Luka scowls. “I was around four years ago. I know what happened. They almost—”

“Did what?” Adrien sounds afraid.

“Leave,” Marc says. She stands up, and for a moment Marinette  _ is  _ almost intimidated by her.

So they leave the cottage. Marinette and Adrien text an agreement to escort the brother to the beach and receive whatever they’ll get from Juleka.

“It’s unspeakable. Literally. No magical being can speak about it. That includes witches.” The brother looks Adrien up and down. “You look just like her.”

“I know,” Adrien answers.

“My sister won’t make the connection. But I’m old enough to know better.”

“Are you really?” Marinette crosses her arms.

“You two certainly…you weren’t involved. You don’t know what it was.”

“We want to find out what took her,” Adrien says.

“She died for an unjust cause. Emilie Agreste is no martyr,” the brother says. “That is…as much as I can say. She died so we were incapable of talking about it. Of doing  _ anything  _ to prevent her from her mission.”

Adrien looks somewhat struck by that.

Juleka surfaces. “Luka!”

And then she notices the two of them. “Thank you, so much.”

“It didn’t take much,” Marinette says. Adrien rubs the back of his neck.

Juleka presents them with a shell. She clasps her hands around it, muttering something under her breath, and it alights with the presence of magic.

“If you ever need this…smash it, and I will come,” she says.

Marinette takes the shell. “This is our payment?”

“Yes,” Juleka responds. “I do not normally express gratitude, but to abide by human customs I suppose I must.”

“It’s okay,” Adrien says. “We appreciate the gift.”

* * *

On the car ride home, Adrien sighs. Marinette glimpses over to see that he’s rereading the last page of Emilie’s journal, over and over.

What Luka says certainly seems to conflict with what Emilie wrote. She isn’t sure who she trusts quite yet, but Marinette knows one thing for certain — they have to find out what happened. What exactly is unspeakable, and what exactly Emilie gave her life for.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my writing Tumblr @beunforgotten


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